----Ricky Taylor's quest to tie Jon Fogarty for consecutive poles in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series record books poles was denied Friday, as the GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing driver stormed to the overall pole for Saturday's Montreal 200.

Fogarty, who earned seven straight pole positions in he and co-driver Alex Gurney's championship-winning 2007 season, turned a best time of 1:32.999 in the No. 99 Riley-Chevrolet. The two-time Daytona Prototype champion edged out 22-year-old Taylor by 0.682 seconds.

"Getting the pole, in itself, is the best thing about today," Fogarty said. "The record is nice and everything, but it's not what we come out here to do. We come out here to be the fastest in each and every session and ultimately in the race.

"Having a fast car in qualifying bodes well for the race. But I won't disregard the fast that I felt a little bit extra pressure. Ricky has been doing an awesome job all year and they've been really hard to beat in qualifying. We think we learned something from them over the last couple of races that we tried in this qualifying session. It seemed to work out well for us."

The secret to success, according to Fogarty, was to wait until the closing moments of the 15-minute session to set the quick time. It proved to be the key of qualifying today as both drivers' best laps came just before the checkered flag flew.

While Fogarty claimed his fourth pole in five starts at Montreal, Taylor's 1:33.681 lap time, set on his final lap, broke his six-race qualifying streak dating back to Lime Rock Park in May.

"I think part of the reason we're not on pole today is a little bit down to me," Taylor said. "I don't think I got quite as much as I could out of the tires when they were at their best early in the session. I did my fastest lap the last lap of the session, so I don't think I got the most out of it.

"Of course, I'm disappointed," he added. "It's nice to have something to look back on. I'm just really happy I had that run of six. It was pretty special and really fortunate to have such a good team behind me in the SunTrust guys."

David Donohue put the No. 9 Action Express Racing Riley-Porsche third on the grid, ahead of the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Coyote-Chevrolet of Paul Edwards, who suffered a spin and light contact with the wall during his qualifying run.

The No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Riley-Porsche of Ryan Dalziel rounded out the top five, which was separated by 1.436 seconds.

In GT, Boris Said scored his first pole of the season, leading a repeat front row from last year's race here at Montreal. Said's Marsh Racing Corvette clocked a 1:42.217 lap time, outrunning the No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche of Andrew Davis by 0.313 seconds in a heated duel that saw the top spot exchange hands four times.

For the Teddy Marsh-led Whelen crew, Said's pole run capped off a remarkable recovery after having to revert to their backup car following last weekend's qualifying accident by NASCAR star Joey Logano.

"It was a great effort for the Whelen guys," Said said. "We lost our primary car last weekend at Watkins Glen, so they did a lot of work to get last year's car as updated as they could. It's really good. The pole was nice, but this track is really, really tough. It's tough on brakes, tough on gearboxes and drivers. We have a long way to go to win the race but it's nice to have a small victory today." Said will share the wheel of the Corvette with Tasmanian Owen Kelly in Saturday's two-hour race.

While Davis lost out on the battle for the class pole, he and co-driver Leh Keen will be in prime position for their title quest. The Brumos Racing duo trail Autohaus Motorsports' Jordan Taylor and Bill Lester by seven points heading into Saturday. And according to Davis, it's all or nothing at this point.

"You can certainly feel more pressure now," Davis said. "We have two events to go. For us, it's gloves off. We have to win. We have to go for it and have to finish ahead of the 88 [Autohaus car]. We need to finish ahead of everybody, really."

---In a worst-to-first turnaround, Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty led 45 of 73 laps to win Saturday's Montreal 200 - one week after crashing out early in the early laps at Watkins Glen International in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Chevrolet/Riley.

After following Ricky Taylor for the opening 24 laps, Fogarty ran two strong laps before his pit stop after the No. 10 SunTrust Chevrolet/Dallara pitted. Gurney held the lead after the exchange of pit stops, and was able to maintain the advantage throughout the remainder of the two-hour race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Memo Rojas sustained minor bodywork damage in the Daytona Prototype championship-leading No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley co-driven by Scott Pruett.

The team went on to finish fifth, and hold a 20-point lead (353-333) entering the final round at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Sept. 17. Pruett and Rojas can clinch their third DP championship in four years by competing 30 minutes and finishing at least 16th in the season finale.
Darren Law and David Donohue finished third in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Porsche/Riley, followed by the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Chevrolet/Coyote of Paul Edwards and Antonio Garcia.

The GT race also saw a major turnaround. Robin Liddell and Ronnie Bremer co-drove the No. 57 Chevrolet Camaro to the class victory, giving Stevenson Motorsports its third victory in four years at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The No. 57 team's triumph came one week after they led the most laps but finished 20th at Watkins Glen International.

Liddell led the final 27 laps despite repeated efforts by Jonathan Bomarito in the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/Castrol Edge Mazda RX-8 started by Montreal native Sylvain Tremblay. Bomarito was able to pull alongside the leader on the final lap, but Liddell held the lead through the final turn and won by .289 seconds. Finishing third, another tenth of a second back, was the No. 41 Seattle Children's Hospital/Bass 2 Billfish/Fishingcapital.com Mazda RX-8 of James Gue and Dane Cameron.

Bill Lester and Jordan Taylor finished ninth in the No. 88 Autohaus Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, retaining a three-point lead entering the season finale. Leh Keen and Andrew Davis finished fifth in the No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup to close the gap to 294-291 points. Tremblay and Bomarito now have 289 points, five behind the points leaders.

Boris Said won the pole and led 11 laps in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Corvette. Owen Kelly lost the brakes in the closing laps and spun into the barrier at the pit exit, resulting in the lone caution period in the event.

---Jon Fogarty claimed his second consecutive GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series pole Friday at Mid-Ohio, in what turned into another thrilling duel between 2011 pole-leader Ricky Taylor.

Driving the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Riley-Chevrolet, Fogarty turned a best lap time of 1:16.504, edging out the 22-year-old second-generation driver by 0.101 seconds.

Fogarty broke Taylor's six-race pole streak last month at Montreal, keeping his own seven-race consecutive set of pole runs intact from the 2007 season.

"It was a handful," said Fogarty, who also scored a pole at Homestead-Miami in March. "I was surprised that the times were as quick as they were. The pressures and the temps of the tires were not necessarily synchronized at the time I needed to do a fast lap. But we pushed and had just enough to beat the 10 car. I'm happy to be up there, it wasn't easy but it shouldn't be."

With two wins in the books this year, Fogarty and co-driver Alex Gurney will be looking for their third Daytona Prototype victory of the season in Saturday's two-hour and 45-minute season finale.

Taylor, who will start from the front row, feels that he's in prime real estate to attack, especially with traffic usually playing a premium around the 2.258-mile, 11-turn circuit.

"The special thing about qualifying is that it's not easy. There's a reason why [Jon] has the record," Taylor said. "We definitely had a good SunTrust car today. I think we approved it a lot from practice. I think it will be an interesting race. This track is so important for track position. It adds a lot of extra pressure. But it's going to be tough. I think we're going to have to pull some moves on the strategy and do what we can do."

The No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Coyote-Chevrolet of Antonio Garcia clocked the third quickest time in qualifying, which resulted in a 1-2-3 sweep for the Bow Tie, which seeks the DP manufacturers' championship on Saturday.

Doran Racing's Dallara-Ford of brothers Burt and Brian Frisselle will roll off fourth, ahead of the No. 23 United Autosports with Michael Shank Racing Riley-Ford of Mark Blundell and Zak Brown with a solid fifth-place effort.

Championship leaders Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas qualified seventh. However, the No. 01 Telmex Riley-BMW will need to only complete the opening 30 minutes of the race to be crowned drivers champions.

In GT, Ronnie Bremer led a Chevrolet sweep of the front row, putting his No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R on the class pole. The Dane turned a best time of 1:25.092, nearly three-tenths quicker than the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette of Boris Said, who had to settle for second.

For Bremer, it marked his first career GRAND-AM pole but fifth of the season for Stevenson.

Like in DP, Chevys ended up 1-2-3 in GT too, with the No. 07 Banner Racing Camaro of Gunter Schaldach and Daniel Herrington in third, ahead of championship hopefuls Jonathan Bomarito and Sylvain Tremblay in the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8.

GT class points leader Bill Lester only managed to qualify his Autohaus Motorsports Camaro in ninth, while title rival Brumos Racing failed to put in a time after suffering a suspected fuel pump failure on Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.

It will leave drivers Andrew Davis and Leh Keen, who sit three points behind Lester and co-driver Jordan Taylor, with a tough task tomorrow with starting from the rear of the 31-car field.